The Arab Revolution

The Arab countries in ferment since the beginning of this year are some of the poorest regions in the world. Under the iron fists of power-crazed despots, there is zero mechanism for self-governance in these states. The sole objective of these despots has been power for power’s sake, and it’s not surprising that they are losing the battle on the Arab street.

Whether it is Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen or Jordan, each of these countries has dictatorship in different garbs in common. The Arabs are a patient and proud people. But their patience is running thin. These countries have the widest economic disparity amongst their own people, who are virtually left to their own devices. And what can be more volatile than that?

The despots who grabbed power just refused to let go and have brought, into the bargain, ruination upon their own selves. Which is justice. Afflicted with a peculiar megalomania, these dictators did not learn from history and have met their hubris. They find themselves on the wrong side of history. They had the opportunity to do something for their people; they had a responsibility to do so – set up democratic institutions, self-governance and the rule of law. Instead, they strutted around in their gilded palaces as if the world outside did not exist.

In many ways, the revolt in a large part of the Arab world is a result of the global recession that began in 2008. Job losses coupled with rising prices have afflicted and virtually crippled each one of these countries. Islam has very little to do with their ferment, although there is no gainsaying that the fanatical elements or the Islamists as they are known are prepared to wade into the troubled waters that the despots have left their countries in.

While Tunisia did provide the spark – or more accurately that fruit vendor who self-immolated after his cart was wrongfully confiscated by the police in Tunis – it is Egypt that will decide the course of the Arab Revolution. That is because it is Egypt and not Saudi Arabia – the latter’s being home to the two holy mosques notwithstanding – that is the Arab world’s intellectual head. It’s one great institution, Al-Misriyyah in the historical Al Azhar University, stands for the peaceful nature and essence of Islam. It’s Grand Mufti, Ali Gomaa, is one of the most refined and erudite interpreters of contemporary Islam.

If Egypt surmounts this critical phase in its history with seeds of grassroots democracy planted firmly in its Nile-fertiled soil, it will provide the blueprint to the rest of the Arab world which is looking for inspiring new ideas, ones that harness the energies of the Arab people towards a better life. This won’t be easy. There are complex baggages of Arab history in which the West has been a partner. The sentiment against America for instance – President Obama’s hand of friendship to the Islamic world notwithstanding – on the Arab street is more negative than positive. Which is why the US government must not shy away from talking to Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, which has given up violence, and devise a successful transition to a genuine democracy.

Time is of essence. If events around the Nile continue to overtake American policy formulations on Egypt, then it would be a tough-to-live-down missed opportunity.